The ceasefire for Ukraine agreed to last week appears to be meaningless, at least in the pocket around a place called Debaltseve. Some of the heaviest fighting of the war is taking place, with perhaps 8000 Ukrainian government troops reportedly surrounded and under assault.

In often-homophobic Russia, Odin Biron knows he is taking a risk. But the star of a popular Russian medical TV show says he wants to use his celebrity for good, to encourage others who are forced to hide their sexuality.

With the ruble tanking and the US moving to aid Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has fewer and fewer good options to shore up his country's position. And that may end in an even bigger crisis than the current one.

She remembers the Donetsk airport when it was a sad Soviet-era fixture. And when it was transformed, reimagined, for a 2012 European soccer tourney. Now it is rubble in fighting in eastern Ukraine, and she realizes " how little time it takes to destroy something which has been so painstakingly built."

The Soviet Union sacrificed a lot during World War II. Millions of Russians died, more than from any other country. And for them, the D-Day invasions were an answer to their appeals to the West to relieve pressure on the Soviet forces who were battling the Nazis.

Despite her better judgment, New York-based Russian writer Anya Ulinich uses the web to seek out potential mates. She finds it all but impossible to interpret the profiles of American men, and they don't understand her any better.

As the Russian military moves into Crimea, there seem to be few good options for the US and NATO. Retired Brigadier General Kevin Ryan sees economic sanctions as one of the few tools, but that requires time and a focus on the long-term strategy.

During the Cold War, you could get a job at the Pentagon or State Department job if you spoke Russian. Today you're guaranteed nothing more than the agony of grappling with Russian grammar. Still, there are signs that a few Americans are taking the plunge.

Washington Post contributor Barton Gellman sat down with Edward Snowden in Moscow for a 14 hour interview, recently. It was the former NSA contractor's first major interview since he was granted asylum in Russia. Gellman describes Snowden as something of a shut-in who doesn't mind living alone in his Moscow residence, now that he's sparked an international debate on surveillance.

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01/23/2014 - 11:30am

Russian authorities have set up side by side toilets at a Olympic venue in Sochi. Yes, BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg tweeted a picture Wednesday with the caption: "Seeing double in the Gentlemen's Loo at the Olympic Biathlon Centre." The picture he snapped is of one stall with two toilets, no divider.

Coke has sponsored the Olympic Games for more than 80 years. Now, gay rights activists are pressuring the company to speak out against Russia's law prohibiting "gay propaganda," ahead of the winter games in Sochi.

During the Cold War, you could get a job at the Pentagon or State Department job if you spoke Russian. Today you're guaranteed nothing more than the agony of grappling with Russian grammar. Still, there are signs that a few Americans are taking the plunge.

The discovery of two giant holes in the ground in far northern Russia is raising all kinds of speculation about their origin. No one yet knows for sure how they were formed, but a leading scientist is pointing to an ever-more usual suspect—climate change.